I REALLY need to get time to make a full demo. This took over my time for the last competition, so I might as well show it.
I'm currently working on a small utility to save scores for older console games. This is slightly better than pencil and paper because it is harder to misplace a computer. The end product will support Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. This is mostly for myself, I know old console support is hit and miss around here. This is good for games such as Star Solder which do not support saving.
Somebody will probably do a better version but I will share my utility for free when I finish. I like to have a sort of database for my scores rather than 200 little random sheets of paper.
The score format will be limited it is not good for modern shmups, or anything else with a fancy score system.
Format
Name - Score - Level - Info
The info selection will be a short user defined section that will show as a tool tip when the score is hovered over. This can be anything.
Example Info
(Star Soldier)
"Finally destroyed both eyes at the end of the level for 80,000 pts!"
(Qix)
"Destroyed Qix with a HUGE 90% area claim on the first level"
Screen capture:
(http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9167/pici.png)
So take it or leave it, this is mostly for my use.
I'm about 75% done now with the coding. I just had a thought for a sort of game of the day. Instead of a "tip of the day" maybe the computer suggests a game of the day from a premade database. I'm now working on the data saving aspect of this. I plan to have it save automatically when you close the window. It will also load automatically when the application starts. I'll probably add an option to export everything to a text file for quick copy/paste forum posting. If I DO add a sort of game of the day opytion it might get people playing missed games.
Here is a short video of the current build in action. This is still under heavy development.
EDIT: 7-26-09
This is a very early version of the *Windows* program. Should be fairly bug free. 113 KB. Once I get the Windows version finalized I will begin work on the other two versions.
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=a36c7fd62f6f3aca5bf1f12f1ff3f30a8439959b2a1ac937b8eada0a1ae8665a
Not something I'd use, but you might also want to store the date and time that you recorded the score (I'm 37 now and can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday) and perhaps some comments - like 'Next time you get to level 30 dodge left since the alien always fires right first'.
You might like to design your database so you can have a series of records stored against any game - when you beat your score you might not want to overwrite the old record.
My 2c.
Jim
I really love your presentation style of your youtube video Ryan.
Thought of a career in teaching?
My $0.02.
Never thought about such an app. I second Shocky. Nice
explanation video.
How are you store those files ? Do you use some sort of
database (like sqlite) ?
Hahaha if you were drunk :P
Pretty clever idea :)
That's pretty cool, I've been looking for somewhere to store my space invaders + geometry wars highscores!
Nice tool and even more nice video!
That looks pretty usable!
The video is probably the most comprehensive discussion of a listbox I've ever seen :)
Thanks guys! I plan to work on this with the goal of keeping it a simple but usable utility. The scores are saved in a single file, the format is really simple. I have been told that I should teach. :) I don't feel that I'm that good at explaining complex things however.